396 
EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. Chap. YI. 
wildering uproar, that it is impossible to carry on a 
conversation in-doors except by shouting. My house 
was damper even than the one I occupied at Fonte Boa, 
and this made it extremely difficult to keep my collec- 
tions from being spoilt by mould. But the general 
humidity of the atmosphere in this part of the river 
was evidently much greater than it is lower down ; it 
appears to increase gradually in ascending from the 
Atlantic to the Andes. It was impossible at St. Paulo 
to keep salt for many days in a solid state, which was 
not the case at Ega, when the baskets in which it is 
contained were well wrapped in leaves. Six degrees 
further westward, namely, at the foot of the Andes, the 
dampness of the climate of the Amazonian forest region 
appears to reach its acme, for Poeppig found at Chin- 
chao that the most refined sugar, in a few days, dis- 
solved into syrup, and the best gunpowder became 
liquid, even when enclosed in canisters. At St. Paulo, 
refined sugar kept pretty well in tin boxes, and I had 
no difficulty in keeping my gunpowder dry in canisters, 
although a gun loaded over night could very seldom be 
fired off in the morning. 
The principal residents at St. Paulo were the priest, 
a white from Para, who spent his days and most of his 
nights in gambling and rum-drinking, corrupting the 
young fellows and setting the vilest example to the 
Indians ; the sub-delegado, an upright, open-hearted, 
and loyal negro, whom I have before mentioned, Senhor 
Jose Patricio ; the Juiz de Paz, a half-caste named 
Geraldo, and lastly, Senhor Antonio Ribeiro, who was 
Director of the Indians. Geraldo and Ribeiro were my 
